Illustrator has great drawing tools. That's what it was designed for. There are some things you need to know to make it play nicely with After Effects.
- How To Import From Illustrator To After Effects
- Dynamic File From Illustrator To After Effects
- Paste From Illustrator To After Effects
- Export From Illustrator To After Effects
- How To Copy Path From Illustrator To After Effects
- After Effects treats Illustrator files as images that are displayed across multiple frames and the background is transparent. You then animate them in After Effects itself by positioning and scaling and such. If you have multiple layers in Illustrator, you also need to.
- In this quick tip i will show you how to copy an path from illustrator straight into after effects.
- Among other things, After Effects can be used for keying, tracking, compositing and animation. For this workshop series, we work with Motion graphics. Illustrator to After Effects is a 3 session workshop series that introduces attendees to simple illustrate-animate workflow: from Illustrator – vector graphic – to After Effects – motion.
You usually need to animate almost every element in the design, so you have to have files that are super clean and well labeled. You might be tempted to get lazy if the file isn't complex, but labeling layers is a good habit to get into.
Here's a guide for organizing your illustrator file.
Hey motion designers, you can send this to designers who are going to send you Illustrator files for animation.
Don't give them a hard time about it; no one has probably ever taken the time to explain it to them. Don't expect perfect files, but if they can help you out in any way, you'll be able to turn around an animation that much quicker.
All elements you want to animate go on a separate top level layer in Illustrator
When you import an Illustrator file into After Effects, 95% of the time you'll probably want to import as Composition - Retain Layer Size
Renaming layers is easier in After Effects (see below for details)
Stay organized!
Only one artboard in Illustrator
Don't mess with your Illustrator files much after you've started animating (colors are fine)
Using Illustrator artwork in After Effects Learn how to create and prepare artwork in Illustrator for use in After Effects. Learn how to maximize the quality and flexibility of vector graphics in After Effects. Grab your favorite snack and follow along as Sylvia guides you through Procreate, Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects to reveal how to use: Photoshop, transform a photo into the basis of your character.
Everything on it's own layer
Anything that you want to animate needs to be on it's own top layer. It's pretty simple. Just do it.
Organize for your future self
You never know when you'll need or want to dig back into a file. And whether it's the next day or the next month, if you don't label your file well, you're definitely going to be kicking yourself. I'm probably preaching to the choir on this one, but you probably also need the reminder and encouragement.
Artboards
Artboards can be great for storyboarding, but when you're preparing a file for animating in After Effects, it's best to create new files for each artboard. After Effects will only import the first artboard.
Don't mess with Illustrator files too much once they've been used in After Effects
Changing Illustrator files after they been used in After Effects can cause problems. You're pretty safe if you're changing colors, or doing minor adjustments to the shape, but adding new layers (or deleting layers) or making major changes to the design can cause big problems in After Effects. What you can do if you need to make big changes is duplicate the Illustrator file, make your changes, and re-import into After Effects. This does mean you have to start the animation over again.
In After Effects, go to File > Import > File (Cmd+I)..
Illustrator has great drawing tools. That's what it was designed for. There are some things you need to know to make it play nicely with After Effects.
How To Import From Illustrator To After Effects
You usually need to animate almost every element in the design, so you have to have files that are super clean and well labeled. You might be tempted to get lazy if the file isn't complex, but labeling layers is a good habit to get into.
Here's a guide for organizing your illustrator file.
Hey motion designers, you can send this to designers who are going to send you Illustrator files for animation.
Don't give them a hard time about it; no one has probably ever taken the time to explain it to them. Don't expect perfect files, but if they can help you out in any way, you'll be able to turn around an animation that much quicker.
All elements you want to animate go on a separate top level layer in Illustrator
When you import an Illustrator file into After Effects, 95% of the time you'll probably want to import as Composition - Retain Layer Size
Renaming layers is easier in After Effects (see below for details)
Stay organized!
Summer of hardstyle proppy & heady. Only one artboard in Illustrator
Don't mess with your Illustrator files much after you've started animating (colors are fine)
Dynamic File From Illustrator To After Effects
Everything on it's own layer
Anything that you want to animate needs to be on it's own top layer. It's pretty simple. Just do it.
Organize for your future self
You never know when you'll need or want to dig back into a file. And whether it's the next day or the next month, if you don't label your file well, you're definitely going to be kicking yourself. I'm probably preaching to the choir on this one, but you probably also need the reminder and encouragement.
Artboards
Artboards can be great for storyboarding, but when you're preparing a file for animating in After Effects, it's best to create new files for each artboard. After Effects will only import the first artboard.
Paste From Illustrator To After Effects
Don't mess with Illustrator files too much once they've been used in After Effects
Export From Illustrator To After Effects
Changing Illustrator files after they been used in After Effects can cause problems. You're pretty safe if you're changing colors, or doing minor adjustments to the shape, but adding new layers (or deleting layers) or making major changes to the design can cause big problems in After Effects. What you can do if you need to make big changes is duplicate the Illustrator file, make your changes, and re-import into After Effects. This does mean you have to start the animation over again.
How To Copy Path From Illustrator To After Effects
In After Effects, go to File > Import > File (Cmd+I)..